In a typical progressive jackpot gaming machine, a progressive jackpot is accumulated by allocating a percentage of the wagers to the jackpot. The jackpot is won by video or mechanical reels displaying a special combination of symbols. Typically, a number of gaming machines are linked and share the same jackpot, so the jackpot usually becomes very large.
Since the winning of the jackpot is very infrequent, the players are not particularly motivated to keep playing the machines. Further, since a minimum bet of one credit can win the entire jackpot, the players do not have incentive to bet more than one credit per game.
What is needed is a gaming device that gives the player added incentive to keep playing the device and make higher wagers.